A drone and missile attacks on western Ukraine overnight that hit targets including an American-owned electronics plant proved Vladimir Putin is trying to avoid peace talks, warned Kyiv.
The aerial assault was one of Russia’s biggest this year and came amid Moscow’s objections to key aspects of proposals that could end the war it started in February 2022.
Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, saying it was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all.”
“The signals from Russia are simply, to be honest, indecent,” he told Ukrainians in his nightly presidential address.
A US electronics plant near the Hungarian border was struck, according to Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. The Flex factory is one of the biggest American investments in Ukraine.
At the moment of impact, 600 night shift workers were on the premises, and six were injured, Mr Hunder added. Russian attacks on Ukraine since it launched its invasion have damaged property belonging to more than half of the chamber’s roughly 600 members, he said.
“The message is clear: Russia is not looking for peace. Russia is attacking American business in Ukraine, humiliating American business,” Mr Hunder said.
Russia’s defence ministry said the strikes targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex”. It claimed the attack hit drone factories, storage depots and missile launch sites, as well as areas where Ukrainian troops were gathered. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas of Ukraine.
In Lviv, one person was killed and three were injured as the attack damaged 26 residential buildings, a nursery school and administrative buildings, regional head Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram. The regional prosecutor’s office said three Russian cruise missiles with cluster munitions struck the city.
Moscow has shown no signs of pursuing meaningful negotiations to end the war, Mr Zelensky said. He urged the international community to respond with stronger pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and tariffs.
Plans for security guarantees will become clearer by the end of next week, Mr Zelensky said, by which time he expects to be ready to hold direct talks with Mr Putin for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Donald Trump discussed the war with Putin in Alaska last week before hosting Mr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on Monday.
Mr Trump questioned Mr Putin’s commitment to ending the war, saying the Russian leader “talks nice and then he bombs everybody”.
Russia has fired nearly 1,000 long-range drones and missiles at Ukraine since Monday’s White House talks, according to Ukrainian tallies.
European countries are discussing how they can deploy military assets to deter any post-war Russian assault on Ukraine, but the Kremlin will not accept the deployment of any troops from Nato countries, and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that making security arrangements for Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement was pointless.
Mr Putin is ready to meet with Mr Zelensky to discuss peace terms, Mr Lavrov said on Thursday, but only after key issues have been worked out by senior officials in what could be a protracted negotiating process because the two sides remain far apart.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio plans to host a conference call on Thursday with the national security advisers of European countries expected to play a role in future security guarantees for Ukraine, a senior US official said.
Military leaders from Ukraine, the US, the UK, Finland, France, Germany and Italy met on Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington to work out military options, said Joseph Holstead, a spokesman for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
